Bob Knauf isn’t a popular guy these days in certain parts of downtown Oxford.
‘I think he’s a very rude man, I really do. Very selfish,? said Ron Brabo, who owns A&A Flower Shop with his wife Wendy.
Business and property owners in the downtown’s northeast quadrant were not pleased Friday when the Knaufs closed off their property, which included more than 50 parking spaces, on the eve of Celebrate Oxford (see story 1).
‘I think it’s extremely childish,? said Jim Carlisle, owner of CAM Logic. ‘I call it extortion. That’s my interpretation of the word.?
‘How’s this going to reflect on the town of Oxford?? Carlisle added.
‘I think there’s a battle going on between Mr. Knauf and the village and we just happen to be standing in the crossfire,? said Wendy Brabo.
‘I understand why they’re doing it, but they’re hurting not only the businesses in this quadrant, they’re hurting the whole town,? said Sandy Moore, owner of the Oxford Antique Mall. ‘I think they’re being very unfair with the price they’re asking.?
‘It’s unfortunate that he had to do it the way he did, but I guess to drive a point home this is a good way to do it,? said Dorothy Johnston, owner of Johnston Photography. ‘I think the people that are being punished the most are the businesses.?
‘The people who are suffering are the business owners and we don’t even have anything to do with it. It needs to be solved,? Johnston added.
The absence of any kind of notice to the businesses is what bothered Carlisle so much.
‘He’s got a beef with the village, fine. Have a beef with the village,? he said. ‘But decency would require he notify the local businesses and tell them what his intentions are.?
‘If someone would have told me this was going on, do you think I would have scheduled that open house for (this) Friday?? Carlisle noted.
Carlisle also felt the whole situation makes the community look foolish and backward.
‘We just went back 40 years in this town,? he said.
The Brabos are particularly upset because the property owners in that quadrant are still paying off a $200,000 bond that was issued in 1996 to provide paving, security lighting and storm water drainage for the parking area owned by the Grove family then and the Knaufs now.
Northeast quadrant property owners continue to pay off that bond debt. The will receive their last bill in 2010 and pay it in 2011. Village employee Maureen Helmuth said $100,000 in principal is still owed.
‘All that money I paid is for nothing,? said Ron Brabo. ‘We increased the value of his property.?
Last year, the Brabos paid $1,776 toward the debt’s retirement. ‘That’s a lot of money,? Ron said. ‘That’s our profits going toward nothing.?
‘The properties that I own will no longer be paying that special assessment,? said Dave Weckle, who owns two buildings in the northeast quadrant and sits on the DDA board. ‘Personally, I don’t intend to pay anymore.?
Last year, Weckle paid a total of $7,194 in special assessments for his buildings (10-14 N. Washington St.).
‘If the council chooses not to handle that and pay it off through their own resources, I intend to put my payment in escrow,? Weckle told the village council Tuesday. ‘I’m also going to ask for a prorated refund of the services that I’ve paid for in advance and I’m not receiving (because the parking lot is blocked off).?
Johnston, who paid a special assessment of $1,645 last year, suggested the village/DDA use some of the $170,000 it has earmarked to buy the Knauf property to instead pay off the parking bond debt.
The idea of them leasing or buying the Knaufs? property didn’t seem to appeal to many of the business owners.
‘I really don’t know that I could carry much more financial load,? Johnston said. ‘It’s getting hard, a small business trying to survive. It’s not just the village, I mean Michigan in general.?
‘As a small business owner, I can’t afford that,? said Angela McLean, co-owner of the Ink & Paper Invitation Studio. ‘That’s not something that’s in my business plan. And frankly, I rely on the village to provide streets and roads and access to parking for my clients. I think that’s reasonable, as a business owner to expect.
‘I’m done with it. No more paying money,? said Ron Brabo. ‘We don’t want to buy it. At this point I’m done. We invested in it. We got nothing for it.?
‘If his desire is to make it pay-parking, I just wish he would do it quickly,? Wendy Brabo said.
‘I don’t have almost $120,000 a year to pay for parking. I just don’t have it,? said Brett Knapp, owner of Red Knapp’s American Grill, referring to a $9,500 a month lease offer that Lee Knauf quoted him for both parcels. ‘I don’t have the resources to pay them what they want.?
‘Talking to these businesses, they don’t have too much to contribute to it either,? Knapp explained. ‘It’s just too much.?
However, if the Knaufs made a deal with the village for the large parcel, Knapp said he’d try to find a way secure the other one.
‘I did say if they made a deal for the big part, I would somehow make this work, the smaller parcel. I would not stand in the way,? he noted.
Despite the fact this parking situation probably impacts his restaurant more than anyone else, Knapp was optimistic about things.
‘Let’s not scare everybody. ‘Oh, don’t come here because there’s no parking,?? he said. ‘There’s parking here. (Knauf) doesn’t own the majority of this lot, if you put it all together.?
‘Obviously, we don’t like it,? Knapp said. ‘But I don’t think this has to be a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination.?
From finding alternate parking areas for his employees to using the parking lot behind Oxford United Methodist Church, Knapp said there are ways to deal with it.
‘We’ve always had an agreement with the church (for) when their lot’s not in use,? he said.
Knapp said he doesn’t want to put out a ‘doom and gloom message? about the parking situation.
‘There’s parking on the street, across the street; people go to a movie and walk over,? he said. ‘Twenty percent of our business comes in the front door. They’re not parking back here.?
‘If we stick together and everybody puts their employees in the right spots and we form kind of a united front, I don’t think anybody’s going to be pushed out of business here.?